The Scoop Blog

If you want to stage a parade in this town, apparently the man to see is Mark Cuban.

The Dallas Mavericks’ owner has written a check of undisclosed size that will allow this year’s Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day parade to proceed as planned.

“We’ve been emailing back and for over the past week,” said Jake Levy, the parade’s organizer.

Cuban said he decided to do “the right thing because it’s the right thing.”

“It’s unfair that I was able to spend all those years killing all those brain cells and other people coming along wouldn’t be able to,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I always had a great time there. It’s a great Dallas tradition. It’s something a lot of people have enjoyed. It was an easy decision.”

Levy had said earlier this month that the parade could be canceled unless supporters could find $40,000 to help cover the costs of security, barricades and clean-up. The overall parade budget is about $100,000.

On Monday, Levy said he was increasingly confident that the money would be raised though he declined to disclose details.

This afternoon, he said, Cuban’s check “hit the bank today, and now we can talk about it.”

Cuban is a former grand marshal of the parade.

Last year, as the City of Dallas faced severe budget cutbacks, Cuban bankrolled a parade to celebrate the Maverick’s NBA championship.Image: Parade participants make their way down Greenville Ave. during the St. Patrick’ s Day Parade on March 12, 2011. (Rex C. Curry/Special Contributor)

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